This invention relates to a method for producing an oxygen enriched gas utilizing a small-capacity oxygen concentrator mainly adapted for medical applications.
The recent years have seen an increase in the number of respiratory and circulatory patients and the advance of the inhalation therapy technique, and as a result, the demand for medical oxygen has been and will be on the uptrend. Conventionally, medical oxygen is generated in a large-size plant and transported to application sites in high-pressure containers. But this method of supply can be useless in a disaster or other emergencies and it presents difficulties in storage. It also involves hazards and regulations in handling high-pressure containers. What is more, the oxygen generator is of large size and is not intended for medical application so that unless it is operated continuously, oxygen is not generated immediately after its start-up.
Therefore, the primary object of this invention is to provide a method of producing an oxygen enriched gas utilizing a small-capacity oxygen concentrator that can be operated satisfactorily from a commercially available power supply and which can generate concentrated oxygen right after start-up.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method for producing an oxygen enriched gas utilizing an oxygen concentrator which is especially suitable for use in medical institutions, for houshold use, aboard vessels and aircraft.